Yucatan Peninsula to brace for Tropical Storm Hanna

A tropical depression has formed in the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to bring dangerous levels of heavy rains to the Yucatan Peninsula — including the state of Quintana Roo — over the next two days.

According to satellite images, the poorly organized storm contains only a small amount of heavy thunderstorms with shear winds of 20 to 30 knots, yet the peninsula can expect between 12 and 25 cm (5 and 10 inches) of rain.

Dry air flowing eastward over the western part of the Gulf of Mexico is slowing Hanna’s development, however, the mountainous topography along the southern cost of the Bay of Campeche is helping the storm generate a counter-clockwise spin. Warm sea surface temperatures are also very warm, another factor that helps generate tropical storm winds.

At 8:25 a.m. Wednesday morning, an Air Force hurricane hunter airplane found a well-defined surface circulation with top winds near 35 mph. Tropical Storm Hanna is expected to carry on eastward to the Yucatan Peninsula Wednesday night, intensifying into a 45 mph tropical storm before she makes landfall.

It’s anticipated that Hanna will spend most of Thursday with her center over land while the storm’s remnants make their way across the Western Caribbean on Friday and Saturday, bringing with it dyed-down winds between 10 and 20 knots (11.5 to 23 mph). Weather Underground forecasts that a low pressure trough will inject a large amount of dry air and discourage development of further storm conditions.